£27,000.00 AWARDED TO CLIENT WHO WAS WORKING AS A CLEANER

One of my client’s was involved in an accident at work in June 2012 where briefly, whilst she was working as a housekeeper for the Defendant, she was cleaning one of the rooms which contained a low ceiling beam located over the bed. The client was approximately 5’2” and had to duck to go under the beam. As she was changing the king size bed, she went to shake the cover onto the duvet and hit her forearms on the low beam, suffering injury.

The Defendant Insurers quickly admitted liability for the accident, and therefore it was just a case of trying to ensure we got the client the correct amount of compensation that she deserved.

Medical evidence was obtained from an Orthopaedic Consultant and he suggested that she undergo further treatment. The treatment included physiotherapy which she subsequently underwent, and also steroid injections. The Client was initially reluctant to have the steroid injections due to a personal experience with a family member who had unfortunately passed away, and she had instructed that she remembered that just before this family member sadly died, she had undergone steroid injections and the client therefore believed her death was connected to having these injections.

As the case progressed and she discussed her experiences with the steroid injections further with both myself and treating doctors, she then decided that she would undergo the recommended steroid injections, which she did shortly before the case concluded. At the time the case concluded she had been recommended to have steroid injections into the carpal tunnel, which she was waiting to undergo.

Prior to the Defendant making an offer of £27,000.00 to settle her case, they had previously made an offer of £10,000.00 to settle her case. At the time the medical evidence was not finalised and the Claimant had been advised regarding her various options available to her, and she decided she wanted to continue and not accept the offer at that time. The Defendant had put the Claimant to strict proof about the injuries and losses that she had suffered as a result of the accident and the medical evidence had always been in dispute. There was a concern that because she had waited so long to have the steroid injections from when the expert had originally recommended it, that this may go against her despite her having her reasons for being reluctant to have the injections.

It was a great result that the Defendant then made an increased offer of £27,000.00 which the she then decided to accept. It came at a perfect time for her as in her own personal life her grandparents, who lived in France, were quite poorly and so she wished to visit them with her family to make some lasting memories. All in all, it was a great result for the client in this matter given that the medical evidence had never been agreed by the Defendants, and the Defendants ended up nearly tripling the first offer that they had made previously.